WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

Yes, everyone’s talking about the new acts you need to hear, but what else is going to dominate the agenda in 2025? Here’s some of the stuff you should have your eyes on.

HOTWAX’S DEBUT ALBUM WILL BE A CERTIFIED STORMER

Some bands spend years searching for their moment. Others – the lucky ones, the dangerous ones – grab it by the throat the second it appears. HotWax fall firmly into the latter category, a Hastings trio currently executing the kind of perfect storm debut that makes cynics weep and believers punch the air in vindication. ‘Hot Shock’, arriving March 7th, 2025, is a perfect description of what happens when raw talent collides with hard-won experience at exactly the right moment. For childhood friends Tallulah Sim-Savage (vocals/guitar) and Lola Sam (bass), plus drummer Alfie Sayers, the last 18 months have been less of a journey and more of a vertical takeoff, blazing through 150+ shows including the kind of festival run that reads like a promoter’s wishlist (Reading + Leeds, Mad Cool, All Points East, Download – tick, tick, tick, tick).

But here’s where it gets interesting. Instead of smoothing their rough edges in the studio (the traditional debut album death-by-polish), HotWax decided to double down on chaos. Their solution? Turn legendary RAK Studios into their own private indie disco, complete with an open bar and an audience of their closest friends. As Sim-Savage explains, “Catherine [Marks, producer] couldn’t even see us, but she wanted to emulate the sound and energy live on record… It was a surreal moment, playing our new album for the first time in front of so many people close to us, who were all very drunk from the free bar. Scary! But fun! It was the first gig ever held at Rak!!”

Split between RAK’s controlled chaos and the wide-open spaces of Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa’s Joshua Tree studio, the album’s creation reads like an indie rock fever dream. Producers Marks and Steph Marziano became co-conspirators rather than mere knob-twiddlers, with Marziano even jumping into the songwriting process – a first for a band usually allergic to outside input.

The writing itself happened wherever they could grab a moment, which meant a lot of acoustic guitars in tour vans (because nothing says rock’n’roll like trying to hear yourself over tyre noise). “It was quite tricky as we were touring so often,” admits Sim-Savage. “We kept trying to play our unplugged guitars in the van, but with little space and the noise of the tyres, it was kinda tricky, aha! It all came together, and I finished some of the lyrics on the spot in the studio.”

This beautiful mess cohered into something approaching a theme – though not by design. “We didn’t plan anything,” says Sim-Savage, “about three-quarters of the way through, we realised the songs had a running theme of intense emotions, and the way we were feeling at the time of writing the album was very ‘yolo’.”

Lead single ‘She’s Got A Problem’ sets the tone – a mirror-gazing anxiety anthem that they describe as “a very honest self-reflecting song. It’s written about a personified version of anxiety, and how it is always in view and getting in the way of life and relationships. When you have intense feelings for someone, you want to feel the way they feel, but they also have those lingering thoughts.”

Between the chaos and catharsis, there are moments of surprising tenderness. Album closer ‘Pharmacy’ is what Sim-Savage calls “a comforting, safe blanket. Pharmacies symbolise that feeling for me for some reason…” Meanwhile, ‘One More Reason’ promises to be “very different for us; it’s pretty intense and relentless, but summery and quite dancey.”

Currently nursing what she calls “a crazy flu before we start touring again,” herhopes for the album are appropriately visceral: “I hope it’s something you can listen to and experience that free, sweaty, exhilarating feeling that we have been feeling so often, and felt and wanted to capture in the studio.”

‘Hot Shock’ feels like three friends catching lightning in a bottle and somehow keeping the lid on. For about 40 minutes, anyway. ■

Wolf Alice

TBA
Ten years after ‘Creature Songs’, Wolf Alice are quietly plotting their fourth masterpiece. This follow-up to ‘Blue Weekend’ has been gestating during an extended period of reflection, including a label switch that suggests we might be in for their most considered work yet. Their career trajectory suggests something that pushes their sonic boundaries while maintaining that unmistakable Wolf Alice DNA. The band’s social media silence speaks volumes – in Wolf Alice world, that usually means something earth-shattering is brewing.

Wet Leg

TBA
“Longer, bigger, better, faster, stronger and more fluorescent” is quite the promise from a band whose debut already conquered the world, but Wet Leg have never been ones to think small. After 250 shows that took them from the Isle of Wight to global domination, Rhian and Hester have been quietly crafting their follow-up away from the spotlight. Early whispers suggest they’re keeping their signature wit while pushing their sound into uncharted territory – and that Primavera 2025 booking suggests we won’t have to wait too long to hear it. 

The Last Dinner Party

TBA
The ink’s barely dry on their debut’s rave reviews, but The Last Dinner Party are already plotting their next feast. Fresh from turning Japan upside down, they’re promising something possibly steampunk-influenced that could push their theatrical rock into bold new territories. If the new material they’ve been sneaking into recent sets is anything to go by, album two could make ‘Prelude to Ecstasy’ look like merely an appetiser. The main course is coming.

Lorde

TBA
Four years after Solar Power’s sunshine, Ella’s back in her natural habitat – the dark. New tracks ‘Silver Moon’ and ‘Invisible Ink’ suggest a return to those nocturnal vibes we fell in love with, but with the kind of wisdom that only comes from growing up in public and living to tell the tale. She’s telling fans to keep their excitement “on a low flame,” but after that social media wipe in 2024, we’re already burning up. This is Lorde in her element, trading sunscreen for starlight.

Paramore

TBA
Fresh from breaking free of Atlantic Records’ golden handcuffs, Paramore are about to show us what independence looks like. “We have decided to announce that we are going to continue to have a long career in the music industry (sorry for any inconvenience),” they declared with the kind of wit that makes you remember why you fell in love with them in the first place. The trio of Hayley Williams, Taylor York and Zac Farro aren’t just stepping into uncharted territory – they’re claiming it as their own. Now that’s something worth staying up for.

Deb Never

TBA
Deb Never’s latest single ‘Not In Love’ arrives like a confessional whispered through gritted teeth – a collaboration with producer Jennifer Decilveo (Miley Cyrus, Bat For Lashes) that captures the exquisite agony of feelings too stubborn to stay buried. Never’s first release since signing to GIANT Music, the track hints at her anticipated 2025 debut album. For an artist who’s already left her mark collaborating with BROCKHAMPTON on 2019’s ‘GINGER’, and touring with Omar Apollo, Dominic Fike and Tommy Genesis, this evolution suggests something bigger brewing – a full-length statement worth the wait.

BRADLEY SIMPSON IS BACK! BACK!! BACK!!! WITH A DEBUT SOLO ALBUM

Ten years in the game is a long time for any artist, even more so for one who’s had multiple Top 10 hits, toured with some of the biggest pop stars on earth, and played The O2 five times over, all before they’ve hit the big three-oh. But instead of stepping away for some much-needed R&R, quietly squirrelling away in the background at the tail end of a period he’s dubbed ‘The Panic Years’ was Bradley Simpson, ready to make his first solo album on his own terms.

“I literally ran away,” says Bradley, dialling in from Antwerp, where he’s in the middle of his first solo European tour. “It was great. It was like, right, I don’t want to fucking see or speak to anyone, I don’t want to know anyone in the city, and it was so nice having that separation. I’ve written a lot in London over the years, I’ve written a lot in LA over the years, but I haven’t really done that much in New York, and I don’t really know that many people. It just meant that I could really focus.”

Born in Sutton Coldfield, Bradley likens his upbringing in the Birmingham suburb to the attitudes of New Yorkers, finding similarities in the grittiness of the English midlands and the northeastern state, and the abrasiveness of their populations – “You have to kind of earn your niceness from people,” he says – making a place he initially chose as unfamiliar territory the perfect place to get back in touch with his younger self.

“I just wanted to write what felt natural,” he explains, “and the stuff that I started to write was drawn on what I grew up with, which was more rocky and alternative, and that’s kind of how I got into music.”

As a child, Brad picked up on his mum’s taste via their car stereo and her preference for classic rock like Led Zeppelin and T Rex, and early 2000s funk and soul from Angie Stone and Jamiroquai. But it was his older sister’s love of alternative rock that has made the biggest dent in Bradley’s solo work.

Working with a small bunch of collaborators, his first solo single ‘Cry At The Moon’ was created with Andrew Wells in Los Angeles at the start of 2023. Andrew was on board for most of the process, alongside indie veteran Anthony Rossomando, but it was his partnership with producer Jordan Asher Cruz, also known as Boots, that made the process unique.

“I never really made an album with an executive producer in the way that I made this album. [Jordan] was very different to anyone I’d worked with. He sat back and had a bit of a Rick Rubin approach, which really threw me off at first, because I was like, ‘Are you going to do anything?’ for the first few days. But then every change that he makes is like the one thing that you were looking for the whole time.”

Bradley spent that first decade of his career as the frontman of British pop band The Vamps, but as other members of the group started to branch out on their own, it soon became Brad’s turn.

“I started to write a couple of songs that felt a lot more personal than stuff I’d written before, so I started to toy around with the idea. As I got more into the writing process, the album really felt like a moment to process the past ten years of my life. It became a really good way to decompress everything that’s happened.”

Determined to step out as a brand new artist, Bradley started in smaller rooms than he’d ever had the chance to play with the band, first hitting Oxford Street’s legendary 100 Club for his debut solo performance. His first European tour consists of similarly small, sweaty rooms, while this summer saw him take on the British festival circuit, playing Reading & Leeds, Latitude and Isle Of Wight.

“For the first few gigs, I felt a bit naked, and you get into an unspoken rhythm [with the band], even on stage with them, we played together for so long, so it was almost like rediscovering who I am as a performer outside of that, which has been quite fun to do actually. I’ve shit myself at certain times, and been like, ‘Oh, I don’t know what to do with my hands’, but it’s been a learning as I go thing, which I’ve actually really enjoyed.”

There’s still more to come before the album drops in February, starting with the new single ‘Holy Grail’, written in London with Ina Wroldsen. “We were in Wendy House Studios in London. We went and sat in the live room, and we were just chatting, spent the first hour talking about life, music, love, all of the things. And then we got speaking about love in the context of those ups and downs that you go through.”

Also written with Ina is the single ‘Picasso’, and it sounds like there’s more to come ahead of the full release. Bradley’s been playing eight songs from ‘The Panic Years’ on this tour, noting that he feels like he owes it to those coming out before hearing any new music to treat them to a few previews.

“I didn’t want to drop the album straight away, or just do one song into the album, because the album’s got a real theme through it in terms of the production and the songwriting. But I think there are different colours to it, and I wanted to show the different parts before giving the whole thing away.” ■

Spiritbox

7th March 2025
Spiritbox’s second album ‘Tsunami Sea’ looms like an approaching storm, set to break next spring. The two-time GRAMMY nominees have been crafting this follow-up to ‘Eternal Blue’ with precision. Single ‘Perfect Soul’ – accompanied by a characteristically cinematic video – suggests an evolution rather than revolution. Set in a decrepit seaside hospital, the Dylan Hryciuk-directed piece follows Courtney LaPlante through a haunting afterlife landscape, complete with barnacle-encrusted creatures that wouldn’t look out of place in a del Toro film.

spill tab

TBA
After several EPs of genre-bending experimentation and collaborations with everyone from Metronomy to Tommy Genesis, spill tab’s new album is one of 2025’s most anticipated arrivals. Claire Chicha – the French-Korean artist behind the moniker – has spent years crafting a sound that’s equal parts bedroom pop intimacy and art-rock ambition, like if St. Vincent started making beats in a Parisian basement. Her latest single ‘PINK LEMONADE’ offers a tantalising glimpse of what’s to come: a chaotic symphony of pitched-up vocals and grungy guitars that somehow makes perfect sense.

Finn Wolfhard

TBA
While every actor with a guitar seems destined for Spotify, Finn Wolfhard’s forthcoming debut should hit different. The Stranger Things and Ghostbusters star plans to release his first solo record in 2025. Already battle-tested in the indie trenches with his band The Aubreys, this time, he’s plotting something decidedly more raw. “It’s a little noisier with more rock and lo-fi stuff that I recorded all on tape,” he told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year, suggesting a commitment to analog warmth that goes beyond Instagram filters and preset plug-ins.

HAIM

TBA
The sisters Haim have been suspiciously quiet for a while now, but that silence is about to be broken in spectacular fashion. They’ve been writing and recording while casually touring with Taylor Swift (as you do), taking their longest gap between albums yet. This isn’t just a regular break – it’s HAIM taking their time to cook up something special for album four. The question isn’t whether it’ll be good – it’s how many instant classics they’ve got up their coordinated sleeves this time.

Djo

TBA
Joe Keery’s musical alter-ego is back for round three, and this time he might actually step out of the Stranger Things shadow properly. His Instagram confirmation came with promises of potential touring plans for 2025 – understandable after having one of the biggest social media hits in recent memory. Given the quantum leap between his first two records, expect his boundaries to be pushed somewhere past the Upside Down and into another dimension entirely.

MARINA

TBA
Marina Diamandis has always operated in her own lane, and her sixth album looks set to drive that lane straight off the map. Coming alongside her poetry book Eat The World, 2025 feels like Marina’s most creatively fulfilled era yet. “I am loving it,” she says, with the kind of confidence that comes from never following trends in the first place. Whatever she’s cooking up, it’s bound to be distinctly MARINA – capital letters and all.

The 1975

Just when you think you’ve got The 1975 figured out (rookie mistake), they’re about to flip the script again. Fresh from the stripped-back charms of Being Funny In A Foreign Language, Matty and the lads are diving deep into album six territory – and this time, they’re trading personal drama for pure cultural theory. Speaking on the Doomscroll podcast, Healy made it clear he’s steering away from the “lore” and diary entries that defined their early works, instead crafting something that makes Mark Fisher’s Ghost of My Life read like light bedtime reading.

This isn’t about headlines or relationship post-mortems (“I would kind of just be lying if I made a record about all the stuff that was said about me,” as Matty puts it). Instead, they’re pushing into properly uncharted territory, examining concepts like “hauntology” and “the slow cancellation of the future” while probably still making you want to dance – because they’re The 1975, and that’s what they do. Early hints suggest they’re finding that sweet spot between their maximalist tendencies and their newfound appreciation for simplicity, all while diving deeper into internet culture’s impact on art than your average PhD thesis.

“We kind of are The 1975,” Healy declared recently, which might be the most accurate description of a band that’s spent their career shape-shifting while somehow remaining utterly themselves. Don’t expect any tabloid-baiting confessionals or two-year-old drama; this is The 1975 pushing into theoretical territory that makes their early journal entries look like playground notes. Alternative culture’s most unpredictable force? They’re just getting started. ‘GHEMB’ awaits.

Japanese Breakfast

TBA (MARCH 2025)

After turning ‘Jubilee’ into a technicolour explosion, Michelle Zauner’s taking us somewhere darker, grittier, and infinitely more guitar-heavy. Written during an extended South Korean sojourn, JBrek’s fourth album promises the kind of evolution that makes perfect sense while still surprising you. “I missed the guitar a lot,” she explains, which might be the understatement of the year given how she’s been absolutely shredding at recent shows. The tracks unveiled during her tour suggest a record that should only send her growing star further into the stratosphere.

Inhaler

7TH FEBRUARY 2025

There’s something deliciously ironic about Inhaler working with Harry Styles’ producer Kid Harpoon. These Dublin lads have stripped away their meandering prog tendencies for something gloriously direct – ‘Open Wide’ is exactly what it says on the tin. Lead single ‘Your House’ hits harder than your first proper hangover, all sharp angles and radio-ready hooks. After extensive touring with Arctic Monkeys and Pearl Jam, they’ve learned from the masters of arena-ready rock, and it shows. This is Inhaler 2.0 – leaner, meaner, and ready for their close-up.

Sports Team

23RD MAY 2025
Two years in Norway have done strange things to our favourite art-rock pranksters. “Think Prefab Sprout meets Roxy Music,” they claim, and for once in their gloriously ridiculous career, they might not be taking the piss. ‘I’m in Love (Subaru)’ suggests a band who’ve found their sweet spot between arch commentary and pure pop hooks, like a carousel of 21st-century sins that somehow your mum could actually listen to. This might be their most ambitious record yet – Sports Team growing up without growing boring. Who’d have thought?

Sam Fender

21ST FEBRUARY 2025

The Geordie Bruce has evolved from personal pain to people watching, and the view is absolutely spectacular. ‘People Watching’ might be Fender’s most considered record yet – a collection that sees him step beyond the deeply personal narratives of Seventeen Going Under into something more universal. Working with The War On Drugs’ Adam Granduciel has given these stadium-ready anthems an American sheen, but the heart remains pure North East, beating stronger than ever.

This is Sam Fender reaching his final form – still writing from the heart but now looking outward instead of in. Less therapy session, more state of the nation address – and what a state we’re in.

Olivia Dean

TBA
Fresh from collecting BRIT nominations like they’re going out of style, Olivia’s been in the studio crafting something that could take her from ‘one to watch’ to ‘one you can’t ignore’. Her recent output hints at a rockier evolution while keeping those soul influences that made us fall in love in the first place. “I want to hear people being bold,” she declared recently, which feels less like a statement and more like a warning. Watch this space – Britain’s best new talent is just getting started, and ‘Messy’ was just the beginning.

Courting

14TH MARCH 2025
The quite probably self-declared – but not entirely deluded – most exciting band in Britain are about to make that title official. Less than a year after ‘New Last Name’ redefined what indie-slash-pop-slash-guitar music could be, Liverpool’s finest are back for round three with an album title (‘Lust for Life, Or: How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’, ‘FYI’) that probably won’t fit in a single social media post. Lead single ‘Pause At You’ finds them threading the needle between pop hooks and experimental chaos – or as frontman Sean Murphy-O’Neill puts it, creating “an observation on night time paranoia mixed about with night out ecstasy.”

This third outing sees Courting pushing even further into uncharted territory, like watching someone redraw the musical map in real time. Their knack for world-building remains intact, but there’s a pop confidence here that suggests they’ve gone from asking “why not?” to declaring “why the hell not?”